The Rise of the Fourth Reich - ThereAreNoSunglasses

118 THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICHfirm of Brown Brothers Harriman. Brown Brothers Harriman, the oldestprivately owned bank in America, was formed in 1931 when the Brownbrothers, originally importers of Irish linen, merged with railroad tycoonEdward H. Harriman.“After the war,” according to the Gazette report, “a total of 18 additionalBrown Brothers Harriman and UBC-related client assets were seizedunder the Trading with the Enemy Act, including several that showed thecontinuation of a relationship with the Thyssen family after the initial1942 seizures. The records also show that Bush and the Harrimans conductedbusiness after the war with related concerns doing business in ormoving assets into Switzerland, Panama, Argentina and Brazil—all criticaloutposts for the flight of Nazi capital after Germany’s surrender in1945.”Why was Prescott Bush not more openly and aggressively prosecutedfor his Nazi dealings? This may be due to the fact that the patriarch Bushwas “instrumental in the creation of the USO in late 1941,” according toa news release from the United Service Organization in 2002. After all, itwould have looked very bad during wartime to publicly prosecute as aNazi asset the man who helped create the USO, so beloved by U.S. servicemenin all subsequent wars.“The story of Prescott Bush and Brown Brothers Harriman is an introductionto the real history of our country,” said publisher and historianEdward Boswell. “It exposes the money-making motives behind our foreignpolicies, dating back a full century. The ability of Prescott Bush andthe Harrimans to bury their checkered pasts also reveals a collusion betweenWall Street and the media that exists to this day.”It was rumored that the trial transcripts of the 1942 prosecution ofPrescott Bush were destroyed in the September 11, 2001, collapse ofWorld Trade Center 7, which housed offices of the Securities and ExchangeCommission. The SEC admitted that more than seven thousandprosecution files were lost with the building, including files on Enronand World .com.Prescott Bush’s banking connection to Nazis was not the only object ofU.S. investigations during the war. Rocke feller-owned Standard Oil alsocame under scrutiny for a series of complex business deals that resulted in